Visitors were lining up on Austria’s national holiday, 26 October, in front of the Foreign Ministry, where, as part of a tour of the building, they could find out more about the work of various Vienna-based UN organizations.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the United Nations and 60 years of Austria’s membership of the organization, twelve Vienna-based UN organizations were present at the Ministry’s Open House Day displaying their work and providing information to visitors.
Throughout the day, a steady stream of visitors were discovering how different Vienna-based organizations are going to be playing a key role in achieving the new Sustainable Development Goals. At the UN stands, visitors were keen to find out more about the history, achievements and day-to-day work of the United Nations, and particularly of the UN in Vienna. To help children familiarize themselves with the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they could pick and make a badge showing one of the goals.
Some organizations brought things to show the public, such as a portable gas stove from Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) and the model of a seismic station from the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). The Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) had a model rocket and satellite to illustrate their work. There was also plenty of information materials and UN reports as well as UN stamps for people to take away.
Looking at the model of the Vienna International Centre (VIC), also on display in the room, one visitor proudly said: “I was working at the building site back in the early seventies.”
About 1,000 visitors, double the amount of last year’s Open House Day and many more than originally expected, queued outside the Ministry, eagerly awaiting to tour the building.
During the event, the Director of the UN Information Service (UNIS) Vienna, Martin Nesirky, presented the Head of the Department for International Organizations at the Foreign Ministry, Michael Rendi, with a poster in German showing the new Sustainable Development Goals. The UNIS Director thanked Ambassador Rendi for Austria’s support for the UN family based in Vienna and for the country’s 60 years of active membership in the organization.
The Vienna-based UN organizations present at the Open House Day were: the UN Information Service (UNIS) Vienna, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention – United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Postal Administration (UNPA), the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL).
